Gestures Without Meaning
by et-tu-lj
Summary: A day in the life of Vincent Crabbe, seventh year. Crabbe, Draco/Pansy, Goyle, hints of Crabbe/Draco. Contains mature themes.


**Author's Note: **A day in the life of any Slytherin, for the livejournal community hh_sugarquill.

* * *

7:27 AM  
Pleasant dream of beating Weasley senseless with a Quidditch bat, after my adoring, yet far too delicate minion Draco fails to carry out his orders with sufficient enthusiasm.

8:00 AM  
Awaken to unpleasant screeching of alarm clock.

8:01 AM  
Reducto same.

8:17 AM  
Awaken to unpleasant whining of house elf, kindly informing the young Master of his imminent Herbology class.

8:18 AM  
Silencio same.

9:44 AM  
Awaken to unpleasant realization that Dark Arts starts soon.

9:50 AM  
Smear Sleakeazy's on hair. Study result.

9:51 AM  
Diffindo cowlick, which refuses to yield to all attempts to subdue same.

9:53 AM  
Shove wand in back pocket and scurry upstairs to classroom.

10:00 AM  
Arrive just in time for Professor Carrow's dramatic entrance. The Hufflepuffs cower at his approach, and the shadows lengthen before him, despite the morning hour. Today is a good day.

10:07 AM  
We will be learning the Cruciatus Curse today, and I have volunteered to be the first. Draco glares, but I know he only wants this knowledge to remain solely his.

10:15 AM  
I never thought I would say this, but knowledge feels good. Professor Carrow says I am a natural.

10:47 AM  
After teaching it to the whole class, we paired off to practice. I made Susan Bones cry, and she was too hung up on her "morals" to even try to get me back. She got detention for refusing to participate in classroom assignments. Serves her right for turning me down for the Yule Ball in fourth year.

10:51 AM  
Professor Carrow pulled me aside as the class was leaving. He says that if I continue to show such impressive progress, he may choose me for advanced training. I've always known the previous teachers were rubbish, but it's wonderful to have someone notice my skills at last.

11:27 AM  
Free period. Draco orders us to stand guard while he sneaks out to the Owlery to send a note to his father. We do, because it's in the service of the Dark Lord. But when he jokes about turning us to girls again, I almost practice my new skill on him. I restrain myself for the time being. We'll try this again when his dad's finished his fall from grace and _I_ am the favored next generation Death Eater.

11:33 AM  
Gregory has the stupidity to comment on how nice my legs were last year. His mistake.

12:26 PM  
Lunch. I steal Draco's crisps. He's too busy flirting with Pansy to notice. Serves him right.

1:47 PM  
The three of us are caught skipping Divinations by Filch. Distract him by trading tales about the good old days of the Inquisitorial Squad. He spends so much time blathering about Umbridge that he forgets to confiscate the gillyweed I was about to light up.

2:22 PM  
Terry Boot is given a week's detention for arguing with a professor during Muggle Studies. The Lesser Carrow is nowhere near as impressive as her brother, but still a refreshing change from previous teachers.

4:12 PM  
Quidditch practice. I miss a bludger which takes out Draco. It gives him a black eye that should last a week.

6:03 PM  
Draco hurries off to the hospital wing to frighten Pomfrey into fixing his eye. But he was imperfect for two hours during practice. That's something, at least.

7:16 PM  
Dinner. With pudding.

8:57 PM  
Draco convinces Pansy to do our homework so we have time for fun later. She does the boring parts, while we do our own Dark Arts assignments.

9:42 PM  
I share the gillyweed, once Draco agrees not to sneak off afterwards. Pansy pouts, but in the end we all know she'll put up with it to be here.

10:27 PM  
I love gillyweed. There is absolutely nothing in the world like it. Gregory sounds semi-intelligent, and I am brilliant beyond belief. Draco is too relaxed to be bossy for once. With each pass, he becomes more loose-limbed and pliable, and the smoke curls around him like ghosts.

11:14 PM  
He laughs at something I've said, some brilliant insight that I've already forgotten, and for a moment we are friends still, as if nothing has happened. Then Pansy snuggles against him, creeping and insistent as only girls can be, and I remember that things have changed. I can't look away as he lets her kiss him. He is caught in firelight, then lost in shadows as he eventually yields to her attentions. Gregory blathers on, oblivious.

11:57 PM  
Pansy is gone, dismissed now that she's served her purpose. Gregory's trailed into silence at last, and Draco lies sprawled across the floor, talkative now that it's just us. I don't listen, intent upon the movements of his hands. Vague gestures, which wobble and collapse without meaning, yet are grand and eloquent all the same.


End file.
